She's so sweet!

Oh what a day today has been! Today my dad asked if L and I wanted to go to the store with him. I of course said yes because your girl loves grocery shopping! I also convinced L to go which on a normal day it would be like pulling teeth trying to get her to go out. Today she was pretty easy to convince to go with us awesome! We went to Costco and got a couple things there including some grade 2 books to get L ready for the new school year. (Honestly still on the fence about sending her) all was good. Dad decided that he needed to run to the dollar store to grab a couple things so off we went. Once at the parking lot to the store we started walking to the store dad was in front of us and L and I were holding hands behind him when suddenly I hit mud and my foot twisted and came out from under me and down I went my opposite knee hit the ground hard and then the rest of my body went down as well with my child right behind me. Thank goodness my purse and body caught her and she didn't end up getting hurt. She had no scratches or anything she was more worried about me then anything.  Of course dad didn't hear or see any of this and continued to the store leaving us behind. The car next to us on the other hand saw the whole thing and laughed. Lets just say my kid was not to happy about that person laughing at me and yelled at the car. Right then L turned into the sweetest little girl she was asking me if I was ok was I hurt all of the above and she was just all together concerned. She helped me walk (hobble) over to the bench outside the store and we sat there me covered in mud and bleeding from my leg and her just concerned. I ended up calling dad from outside the store letting him know what happened because clearly he had no clue. Once we carefully hobbled back to the car my sweet girl opened the car door for me and offered to get me a bandaid and ice when we got home. I'm glad I'm raising a sweet caring girl.  

It's been a hot minute

Well its been forever since I was actually on here and wrote anything or even checked up. I need to get back on to doing that more often! Yes I know I know I think I say that in every update post I do and it seems like it never happens but I do want to make this more of a regular thing again. I am very frequent on instagram right now I post just about everyday there my food of course.

So here is a little update for you I have been 9 months Keto now and I am officially down -51.4lbs!!! YAY HAPPY DANCE!!

I feel so much better and have so much more confidence when it comes to how I feel and look about myself. I have no idea if that last sentence makes any sense but oh well its staying. I have been extremely busy with work and being a single mom and trying to keep helping out around the house here but the struggle is real. I am so tired right now it is crazy. I feel like I don't have enough time in the day to get everything I need to get done done. I started waking up at 6 am every morning just to try and give myself more time to get things done but then I'm still staying up till 11pm working. So in conclusion of that coffee is my friend and I probably drink way to much of it at this point.

L is officially finished Kindergarten and going into grade one next year 😭where did my baby go! She is so smart, I know I know everyone says that about their kids but in all honesty some of the stuff that comes out of this kids mouth is crazy I even have to google it some days to figure out what she is talking about and most of the time she is right and I feel like an idiot.

At this very moment I feel exhausted and emotional and didn't know where to put that need to get my frustrations out/vent so here I am writing this. once I'm done here it's back to cleaning the house and trying to get as much work done as possible before I take a day off for Canada Day! Yes if you didn't know already I am Canadian!

Well until I get back on here and do some more of this writing stuff so long for now!

What I'm doing to try and be a better mom

About a month ago I was taking my daughter to her gymnastics class and I noticed that one of the kids in her class were trying to get there moms attention but mom was on her phone and totally ignoring the kid. I felt really bad for the kid as she was trying so hard to get her attention. It was at that moment that I made a promise to myself to be a more attentive mom.

When I am at gymnastics if I can see my daughter out the viewing room window I make sure I watch her and that every time she looks up she sees me watching her. When I can't see her that is when I can look at my phone.

At night we have started a new tradition/bed time routine. I went and got a kids novel its 3 stories in 1 and its 33 chapters long. Every night we read a chapter of the book before bed while cuddled up. Sometimes if we are at a good part we will read 2 chapters. I find that since doing this L has been going to bed so much better than in the past and looks forward to our reading times.

Mother daughter dates! I have been trying to do a mother daughter date at least 1-2 times a month with L. We go to dinner or do something fun just the 2 of us next month we are going to go to Paw Patrol live together! L is super excited about this.

I am trying to put my phone down and or work down more often and playing with L wether it be a tickle battle playing a game or watching some video about something she was interested in.

If I do anything at all anything that could make a difference with my girl I hope that being more present in her life and showing her love in ways other than heres a new toy or let me buy you this I want her to appreciate time and time spent with me and other people in her life I want her to value things like that more so than valuing the things I buy her.

I have to say since I have implemented some of these rules or guidelines for myself I have seen a big improvement with L and her moods and how much we used to fight compared to now. She has been helping more and listening so much better. Hopefully this keeps up and I can raise a great kid!

An Interview With 5 Year Old L

Who is your Favourite Super hero and why?

- Super Girl and Wonder Woman are my favourite because I love their super powers and they are awesome!

What is your Favourite season?

- I can't pick I love them all! They are all my favourite seasons I can't pick just one!

If you could give yourself a new name what would it be?

- I would be Rosie I love the name and it is beautiful!

What is your favourite movie?

- Home is my favourite movie I could watch it over and over!

What is your favourite song?

- Look what you made me do by Taylor Swift

What is your favourite colour?

- Pink, Purple and Grey!!!

What is your favourite memory?

- My favourite memory was going to the Zoo! It was so much fun I loved seeing the Zebras and Giraffes!

What is your greatest wish?

- My Greatest wish is a Unicorn and bouncy castle!!!

What do you want to be when you grow up?

- I want to be a Shimmer and Shine when I grow up I would really like to be the blue one!

Are you afraid of anything?

- I am afraid of ghosts and monsters in the dark!!

What is your favourite Holiday?

- I love all the holidays they are all my favourite because our family gets together!

Orb Molecules *Wednesday Reviews*

Orb Molecules! To be honest I had never heard of these before I believe they are pretty new and came out around Christmas. L got 2 boxes of them for her birthday and she had been begging me for a few days to use them but I really didn't know what they were and thought it was going to make a huge mess that this momma wasn't in the mood to have to clean up. So I went onto youtube just to see what they were and watched a video on them and was surprised to see how cool they were. Link to youtube video. 

After watching a bit of the video L was happy to get the ok from me to open up her Molecules and get to playing! let me tell you my kid had the biggest smile on her face as she started playing with her toy! 

when you open the box the Molecules are separated by colour in a plastic container they aren't sealed in in any way just in the plastic container. One of the things that I really like about these is that unlike things like playdough that we regularly have to throw out because someone forgets to seal the containers totally or leaves it out Orb Molecules don't dry out they stay mouldable at all times! That means that there is no need to be in a sealed container. If they get left out accidentally you can keep using them with no issue. 

The other great thing about these are that they only stick to themselves they don't stick to your table or fingers or anything. You can build them by using big lumps of molecules or you can use one Molecule at a time and build up from there! They are little beads almost like a styrofoam ball stuck together by a sticky substance that doesn't leave a residue.  They don't come with instructions on how to build the characters in shows on the box you basically just create what every you want and create the character on the box to the best of your ability.
I really liked how creative this product can let L be. She started all on her own to make the monster on the box starting with the eyes which I was impressed she did so well for a 5 year old. She even added other colours and said it was the monsters makeup. She ended up making the head of the monster but then we got interrupted by dinner. Since then she keeps going back to build more things and play with it! 

All in all my final conclusion. This is a great product and I really like it! I would highly recommend it to anyone with older kids who love to be creative. Orb Molecules for the win!!

Mastermind toys link to Orb Molecules

A Weekend with 2

This week I haven't been feeling the greatest between allergies a slight cold and late nights and just feeling like utter crap I have been feeling pretty drained. I'm trying to keep up with everything and so far its been going ok there is room for improvement but all in all its going well.

This weekend I offered to watch my friends little guy who is just a year younger then L and they are pretty much best friends. We call them boyfriend and girlfriend because they are just the cutest together. They also play really really well together which makes the whole thing super nice!

I wasn't sure what we were going to eat for lunch and dinner today as I would have both kids for both eating periods of the day. I ended up ordering myself a small pizza and got them chicken bites and fries and at the request of my kiddo potato wedges as well. The food got here super quick which was really nice L didn't want any nuggets and only ate fries and wedges and G ate 1 nugget (I gave him 3). They are both picky eaters but usually eat pretty well in each others company but they just weren't feeling it today.

We spent the morning playing and watching Noddy and had lunch and then after lunch we watched 2 more episodes of Noddy and the went outside for a swim in the pool. This was the fun part G took no time to get in the pool and was having a blast while my child who has only had one swimming lesson and now thinks she's a mermaid refused to put on and wear her puddle jumper in the pool. I made a deal with her that she could do 3 of her mermaid swims and then she had to put on her jumper she did and then the fight began. Finally I was able to put it on her and she proceeded to sit one the step to the pool for the next 20 min whining. I finally decided to see if she would jump into the deep end of the pool and joked around with her she jumped in a couple times and then all was good with the world.

The kids spent 2 hours in the pool and then decided they had had enough and were ready to go in so we did. we had a bit more of our lunch for dinner and the rest of the day the kids just wanted to play family/house in the living room and watch more Noddy so thats what they did and I sat at the kitchen table and worked. All in all it was a great day with only one melt down from my own child!

Swimming lessons!

As a kid I grew up with my grandparents having a pool we used to ride our bikes over in the summer and go swimming all the time Grandma and Grandpa's was the place to be especially on those really hot days. I taught myself to swim with the help of my parents and only had swimming lessons in Grade 4 as part of our class.

So when it came to our pool we have at our house and L I had to decide what to do if I would just work with her and teach her how to swim myself, put her into a group swim class or get her private lessons.

I always thought that I would just teach her myself and that she would just start learning as she has been while we use the pool all summer which if she has anything to do with it we will be in the pool every day! I knew I didn't want to do a group swimming class I didn't think she would learn as much as she would be trying to show off or play with the other kids around her. So I had decided that swimming lessons weren't happening at this time and I would teach her.

Walking home the other day from school with L and I happened to notice a sign and I stood there and read it with L yelling at me to hurry up. The sign was for private in backyard swimming lessons! Honestly how perfect L could learn one on one and in her own pool! I took a picture of the poster and headed home. Later that night after L was in bed I pulled my phone out to look at the poster again. I looked up the website that was listed and read all about the program.

The program is set up through the red cross so If L does the required amount of lessons and passes she would have a swimming certification which I thought was pretty cool. On the poster it also had a coupon code for your first lesson which I also thought was awesome. They have a selection between 3 lesson types 30 min, 45min and 60min sessions. They were all reasonably priced as well in my mind!

So I signed the kiddo up and she will have her first lesson in a few days!!

Potty Training struggle at 4yrs

There are days where I sit down in a room alone and throw my hands up in the air and scream inside with frustration. I have heard so many stories of parents that have amazing potty training experiences or that it took a while but once they got it they were good to go and no more issues. Well this isn't the case for us ours is a little different from most that I have heard of.

It took forever for L to be potty trained don't get me wrong I started trying to train her at 2 1/2 but she refused. finally when she was 3 she started to get it and was doing really well she was going all day and night with no accidents and was doing great. She was out of diapers and pull ups and wearing her big girl underwear to daycare at home and to bed. We had finally rid our house of Diapers and I was so happy it was so much easier. Well a few months after she was potty trained and things were going well she got kicked out of daycare because our daycare wanted to take a kid that was going to be staying as we were going to be leaving in a few months as L was going to be starting school, No big deal I work from home so I made it work.

Well that first week home was horrible its like a switch went off and my child forgot everything about being potty trained she peed her pants at least 8 times the first day! 8 FRIGGIN TIMES!! She wasn't having accidents at night just during the day. I had no idea what to do about it I tried putting her on time outs but felt bad because I wasn't sure if she knew what was happening with her body maybe she didn't know that she had to pee maybe there was something wrong with her that she couldn't control it.

Time went on and she got a little better but we were still having random accidents every once in a while which I didn't totally get angry at as she was only just 4. finally we got back to where we were no accidents everything was good. Dun Dun Dun!! School started and so did the peeing of pants. I ended up making a deal with her that if she could go the whole month without having an accident that she could get a hatchimal (something she had been begging me for). The month came and went and she did pretty good she had one accident and I let it slid as it really wasn't her fault. All was good again or was it?

Fast forward a few more months and she started having accidents again! Like what is going on with this kid she has always been good with not peeing the bed and for some reason one week she peed every single night and not just a little pee like a lot of pee. She was having 2 accidents at least twice a week at school and I was struggling trying to understand her. I ended up making a drs appointment to go get her checked out as I was at a loss. We went and got asked a bunch of questions they ran some tests to see if she had an infection or something else wrong with her. We then went and she had an Xray to see if she had a blockage. Nothing, Nothing was wrong that the Dr could find so he told me he was going to refer me to a Paediatrician. Well that was in march and we still haven't gotten a call.

As of today L is in goodnights at night because she's not comfortable going without them at night now as she fears she's going to have an accident  which I totally get. During the day she has gotten a bit better but she is still having accidents at least once a week.  So at this point I'm at a loss and struggling to figure out what to do with her or how to get this under control. Maybe its something that we just need to wait out. I'm hoping that I can get a handle on it during the summer and we can get back on track.

Thanks so much if you have read this far! Please if you have any insight or suggestions Comment below because I'm going to loose my mind!

Updates and other stuff!

Well it's been a hot minute since I was on here and actually posted something. It's crazy how fast time goes by and you don't even notice its going so quickly and then it slaps you in the face. These last few months have been crazy for me hence why I haven't been on here much lately and haven't written on her much either. I have been trying to make some changes in my life which I have had ongoing for as long as I can remember. I have gotten myself a personal trainer she comes once a week to my house and trains me for 30 min. Let me tell you she doesn't let me off easy this girl is making me sweat. I am working on getting myself back into eating better which is really a hit or miss most days some days I'm really good at it and then others I'm horrible but what else is new. I have been working on keeping my cardio up between training sessions by doing 30 min walks or swimming and other random things to keep me moving.

L is and has gotten so much bigger in the last few months and I can't get over the fact that in 2 weeks she is going to be 5 years old. I feel like it was yesterday that she was born I can still remember the day so clearly like it happened yesterday. L and I share a room and up until last month she was sleeping in a toddler bed and I was in a double so we had to figure out how we were going to fit the 2 of us in the same room together while still giving us enough space to live in the room. The only logical thing was to get a bunk bed! L is the happiest kid in the world right now hahaha. So I a 28 year old just got my first bunk bed and let me tell you I'm not complaining I friggin love the thing. I find I am getting so much more work done since we got it. It's like my own little space that I just sit in and work in any time of the day and night. It really has changed a lot of things and our room is so much cleaner and organized.

My plan for the next few posts which I am fingers crossed bit my tongue going to be posting on here again more frequently. I have a few product reviews I am planning on doing. I am thinking I am wanting to do some sort of weekly update on whats going on in our world and a few other posts that I have yet to come up with.

SO until next time!!

A great day!

Today I would say was a great day! When ever L and I plan to do something special on a day such as going to see a movie like today. I try to make it a special day for her. We don't get out all the time as I don't have my license yet (Still working on it). So today we went to see Despicable me 3 Which I knew L would sit and watch at the theatre and be happy to see. We went to the closest theatre here (there are 2 in the city) and we tried out the new reclining seats which I have to say were pretty awesome. I haven't been to the movie theatre in ages as the seats always bother my legs and I get restless. Today was a different story and I was happy about it. I was really happy with how well L did at the movies she sat really well and watched the movie she laughed and was pretty quite which for a kid that never stops talking was pretty good. When we got to the theatre we went straight to the concession stand cause of course we needed to have popcorn. It took forever for the guy at the concession to get the order of the person at the front of the line. It ended up that we were late getting into the movie but the only thing we missed luckily was the previews. The movie it's self was ok but I did almost fall asleep a few times.

After the movie was over L raved about it and how fun it was. She wants to go back and do it again! At the theatre they have an arcade and of course we had to go and play a few games. First I had to figure out how it now worked as they no longer have the tokens and stuff  I was used to. We went and got a swipe card for the games. we played a bunch of games some of them were better than others and some were easier than others for L to play. After that we moved on.

We went shopping next Carters was having a big sale so we went and I got L a new dress and a new pair of shorts cause I'm trying to watch how much I spend these days. We went to a few other stores and didn't buy anything just looked around and window shopped I almost bought a bunch of stuff at one store but then I went and put everything back I was a good girl.

After walking down through all the stores we went to a restaurant and had some dinner. We ordered and then sat and waited for it to come we cuddled a little and then L put her head down on my lap and she was out like a light. Our food ended up coming while she slept on my lap so I had to eat very carefully haha. I ended up having to get the waitress to grab the ketchup off the table for me because it was on the other side of the table and I couldn't reach it. Once I finished my food the service at the restaurant went down hill from there. I didn't see the waitress after that for at least 20 minutes and then L woke up and had to use the washroom so we grabbed our stuff from the table and went to the washroom when we got back to the table they had started to clear our table but had left it. I sat there for a little while longer trying to get someone to help me but no go. So finally the manager came along and asked if I needed anything and I told her I had been waiting for my waitress to come and get me the bill but she hadn't come back so the manager went and got it and got me to pay through her. We could finally leave. I probably could have walked out and no one would be the wiser but I'm not that kind of person I just don't tip well when you ignore me.

All in all it was a great day and L enjoyed it immensely!